Invest Wisely
May/Barnhill home place - Berlin, GA
After the death of my grandfather, our family gathered at the home place to clean out his home. The house was where my grandparents had lived and raised their family and before them, it was the home of my great-grandparents. It was an old house lacking most of the modern conveniences of technology. Originally constructed without electricity or plumbing in the 1890s, it eventually boasted these necessities, yet it always lacked the accouterments of modernity such as satellite TV, high-speed internet, or air-conditioning. To be frank, the house had seen the last of its days as a hub for life and family. Its future value was more dependent on what it had been rather than what it would be. The weathering of time had taken its toll and we found ourselves clearing out a house that had held the treasures of five generations.
I must admit that my propensity towards being a packrat had begun to emerge. With each room, each drawer, and each shelf there seemed to be treasures. Whether it be books that were my grandmother’s schoolbooks, or the inscription in the covers of Bibles from family members of long ago, I found myself wanting to hold on to these objects that had a connection to my past and the history that had produced me and my family. Yet, with each of these things, there was an undeniable fact. Each item that had such sentimental value for me bore the curse of age. Rusty, tattered, broken, and in disrepair, these items of family history collectively gave testimony to the reality of our temporal world. Even the house, though it may have once been the grand home of a successful farmer, had become the home of successful mice and squirrels. Though it once was a place of new construction and the building of families it had given way to the weathering of time. And as we cleaned out the old house knowing that its useful days were no more, I remembered all the joyful moments that those walls have witnessed and was made aware more acutely of what Jesus meant when He said in Matthew 6:19-21
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (NASB)
That old house and all the old things that were within it did not have value to me for what they might bring on eBay, but rather they reminded me of the intangible inheritance that I have received. For within those dilapidated walls my grandmother was taught the truth of scripture. Within those walls, my mother and aunt were instructed in righteousness. Within those walls, I learned how to pray from watching my grandfather on his knees. Within those walls, treasures were stored up in heaven by investing in eternal things, so even as those walls fall down the investment remains and continues to grow.
There will come a day when my grandchildren and or great-grandchildren will clean out my home as well. And if the Lord blesses me with long life, much of the things that I will have collected will be showing their own signs of age and deterioration. I pray they find I have invested well. Not in the things of this earth that inevitably lose value but rather in eternal things. Jesus said that where your treasure is there your heart is as well.
The words of Jesus speak as poignantly today as they were the moment, they left His lips. We live in a world that values things. The sales pitch is always the same, “more things equal more happiness.” We like to hear that we “need” more things, or we “deserve” more things. So often, the temptation to judge our own value or success by the number of things we have collected overwhelms us. And as a result, we pursue an unattainable goal to have enough. The tragedy of all this striving for more is that we invest our resources, talents, and efforts in the attempt to attain things that will never be able to hold the value that was spent pursuing them. So, heed the words of Jesus to invest your resources, your heart, your efforts, and your talents in the treasures of eternity and reap the blessings of wise investments.
Last week, the Southern Baptist Convention held its Annual Meeting. Gathering in New Orleans, LA, there were nearly 19,000 in attendance. Of these, 12,737 were registered messengers (messengers are similar to delegates) from 4,423 churches. During the two days of meetings, the messengers worked through a packed schedule that included changes to the doctrinal statement of the Convention and a constitutional amendment, among many other things. Southern Baptists are unique in that we have our debates over critical issues in public with the opportunity of any registered messengers to speak. This does not always make for flattering soundbites in the news and sometimes leads outside observers to think that we are contentious and in constant conflict. For those who attend the meetings and participate in the decisions, even in greatly debated issues, we generally depart the annual meeting more encouraged in the work and cooperation of the SBC. Below are some of the more significant decisions of the messengers to this year’s annual meeting.